12
May
The Start of Marketing and Operations Divide
As we work in the area of Marperations, it is important to understand the origin of the marketing-operations divide. This understanding will help us figure out why operations cares so much about efficiency and why marketing has an eye single to effectiveness.
A look back in history shows that the 18th and beginning of the 19thcentury marked the rise of production. Producers focused their energy on producing more, making efficiency suddenly more important than ever. But the ongoing focus on efficiency came to a point where, in the1940s, production started to surpass demand. The country gradually evolved into a sales era to move surplus inventory. In order to bring more structure to sales, the concepts of marketing evolved and came into being in the 1950s.From the start, marketing primarily came into existence to counter the effectiveness of operations. Since marketing came into being to sell surplus inventory, over promising and setting high expectations became common practice among marketers.Marketing did not come in to build demand, but to work in tandem with operations. Operations had already put itself in a position of producing more than the demand required. Marketing was simply getting rid of the surplus as a profit.
There is still a divide today. Operations still wants to do more of the same thing, and doing more of the same thing is a complete no-no in the world of marketing.
The divide still runs deep; it is time for a Marperations approach to take over. Companies need to understand that marketing today can connect to consumers and help operations choose its product mix and production quantity. Marketing can influence the features and benefits offered by a product. Marketing can lead and support. Operations on the other hand, cannot be stubborn about its leadership. It too must open the doors to change and realize that they only way for the entire brand team to truly win is to make the consumer happy.